The second week of November is a fugue of the end of fall and the beginning of winter, and all we really want to do is sleep.

1977: The Bay City Rollers, “The Way I Feel Tonight”

I don’t think I have heard “The Way I Feel Tonight” before today; at least, I have no memory or associated memories. It’s…okay.

1982: Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gayle, “You and I”

This is another of the many songs in this project where I have no specific memory of “You and I,” but it sounds kind of like so many other songs of its type and era that I may have, and the song has since become lost in the crowd. It is certainly not something I, as a disaffected 13-year-old, would have sought out.

1987: John Cougar Mellencamp, “Cherry Bomb”

Oh yeah, I have heard “Cherry Bomb” a lot. It was odd to hear nostalgic songs like this one while starting a new life, because despite my overall unhappiness living on the farm and attending school in that toxic little village, there were parts I couldn’t let go of, and songs like this one probably didn’t help. Of course the song, like all songs, is of its time, and the video of kids having fun before they (I gather, from the imagery in the video) head off to war, is a nice touch, as is the interracial couple slow-dancing, which was definitely controversial back in the 1980s.

1992: Guns ‘N’ Roses, “November Rain”

This is a repeat from earlier in the year, so please enjoy this live video from 1992, featuring Elton John.

1997: Mack 10, “Backyard Boogie”

Another repeat from earlier in the year.